Archives for July 2016

Politico: “Obama’s preparing a major run of endorsements and campaign stops for statehouse candidates, trying to foster an Obama generation on his way out the door. He’s throwing himself into fundraising, starting Monday with an event for Clinton in Atlanta and with more events being approved weekly … The White House is beginning to plan an October filled with nearly non-stop political travel on behalf of both Clinton-whose campaign aides have in recent months expanded the list of places where they believe he could be helpful-and Senate candidates. Obama’s team is even considering doing some travel specifically on behalf of House candidates.”

Los Angeles Times: “Beyond Clinton and her newly minted running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, she is deploying no less than President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker. Just to name a few.”

“Every campaign has what it calls a a surrogate operation: big names that lend star power in the fall. But Clinton aides call these heavy hitters “the uber principals,” or “the ubers” for short. They combine political acumen and deep campaigning experience with popularity — Obama is polling well and the first lady and vice president are reliable crowd-pleasers. This backup squad packs more political celebrity wattage than perhaps any presidential nominee has ever had.”

Politico: “It took Bernie Sanders quite a while to internalize the fact that he hadn’t actually beaten Clinton despite receiving 3.7 million fewer votes – but he’s been a more or less exemplary partner to Clinton as she tried to tame the Never Hillary crowd. The nascent Sanders-Clinton alliance is neither intuitive (she questioned whether or not he was even a real Democrat during the primaries) nor especially warm, but it’s proving durable enough for their mutual purposes.”

“Clinton’s aides were intent to give Sanders something Donald Trump was never willing to offer Ted Cruz – dignity and respect in defeat, a graceful exit, an evening to bask in his accomplishments. It worked. Cruz was defiant and divisive, Sanders was domesticated and uncharacteristically sentimental.”

Paul Manafort told CBS News that Donald Trump would not be releasing his tax information.

Said Manafort: “Mr. Trump has said that his taxes are under audit and he will not be releasing them… It has nothing to do with Russia, it has nothing to do with any country other than the United States and his normal tax auditing process.”

Ron Fournier: “Trump must be made to release his tax records because he repeatedly promised to do so; because every major presidential candidate in the modern era has done so; because Richard Nixon released his tax returns while being audited, which is Trump’s latest excuse for reneging; because voters have a right to know how much he pays in taxes and to charities; because there are credible and concerning links between Trump and the Russian government, which is suspected of hacking the Democratic National Committee computers and leaking embarrassing bits.”

Todd Purdum: “It’s fashionable to deride party platforms as passé, if not irrelevant. But as black-and-white, albeit non-binding, statements of aspiration and intent, they can still matter, perhaps seldom more than this year, when Sanders really did force Clinton to move the needle on most of the issues he cares about most.”

“That Clinton moved so far, on such core liberal policies, would have seemed inconceivable only a few months ago when Sanders began his ‘political revolution.'”

“Philadelphia is buzzing with speculation that the Democratic National Committee will have to fire a slate of senior aides after WikiLeaks released 20,000 emails, some of which showed the party attempting to boost Hillary Clinton over her campaign rival Bernie Sanders. But Donna Brazile, the incoming interim chairman of the DNC, pushed back on that narrative in a Playbook interview, saying that no members of the party’s staff have offered to resign and she wouldn’t consider accepting any resignations until next week.”

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “got crosswise with another powerful Clinton friend when he suggested Tuesday that Hillary Clinton might revert to her previous support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership once in office,” the Washington Post reports.

Said John Podesta: “Love Gov. McAuliffe, but he got this one flat wrong. Hillary opposes TPP before and after the election. Period. Full stop.”

Politico: “To say it was an unforced error is gross understatement: Trump tweeted out the story, and will almost certainly bring it up as proof ‘Crooked Hillary’ can’t be trusted.”

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “For the time being, we’re sticking with our current Electoral College ratings, which show Clinton with 347 electoral votes safe, likely, and leaning to her, with 191 safe/likely/leaning Trump. We agree that if the election were held today, it would almost certainly be closer than that — and that Trump could very well win. But the election isn’t being held today — it’s actually still about 100 days away. Our ratings are a forecast for November, not a reflection of the day-to-day state of play, and we still see Clinton with an edge.”

“If the dust settles from the conventions the next few weeks and the numbers are still what they are today, then we very well may have to reassess.”

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Yes or no, is it possible that Donald Trump wins the presidency?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Anything is possible. It is– the– the nature of democracy that until those votes are cast and the American people– you know, have their say– we don’t know.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Are you worried?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, as somebody who has now been in elected office– at various levels– for about 20 years– I’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff happen. And– I think anybody who– goes into campaigns not running scared can end up losing.

Washington Post: “As he has wound down his presidential campaign, Sanders has begun to build new organizations and plan for a possible power move if Democrats regain the Senate. He has officially launched Our Revolution, a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” group to build support for liberal policies.”

“It’s the first of a possible trio of Sanders projects. Another will seek to elect like-minded candidates up and down the ballot across the country, and a third possible group might engage in other political activity.”

New York Times: “In the days immediately after he took office, Mr. Obama ended the use of torture, lifted Mr. Bush’s ban on stem-cell research, relaxed enforcement of marijuana laws, blocked oil and gas leases on public lands, ordered the closing of the American prison at Guantánamo Bay within a year, scrapped oil-shale development in the West, reversed restrictions on union organizing, overturned bans on the use of affirmative action by colleges and approved stricter emissions rules.”

“Eight years later, as Mr. Obama and the veterans of his administration gear up to help Mrs. Clinton get elected in November, there is no better motivation for them than the prospect of a President Trump ordering a similar reversal.”

“Driven by those fears, the president plans to campaign aggressively for Mrs. Clinton this fall. Aides have largely cleared his calendar in October, and barring new crises, the White House expects Mr. Obama to be on the campaign trail almost daily leading up to Election Day.”

Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Obama knows well the risks when a new president of the opposite party comes into the White House because he spent much of his initial weeks in office reversing policies his predecessor, George W. Bush, had put into effect.”

Donald Trump sought to distance himself from reports that Russian government hackers were responsible for the breach of Democratic National Committee servers in order to boost his presidential bid, Politico reports.

Said Trump: “In order to try and deflect the horror and stupidity of the Wikileakes disaster, the Dems said maybe it is Russia dealing with Trump… For the record, I have zero investments in Russia.”

Democrats formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president, “looking to move beyond the lingering anger that has brought protests and dissension to their convention as they unite behind the first female candidate to represent a major American political party,” the New York Times reports.

About Political Wire

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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